Pirates close in on crown

COSTA MESA — While an outbreak of injuries has cut into the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team’s depth in recent weeks, it would be difficult to argue that the Pirates are limping to the finish of the Orange Empire Conference campaign.

The Pirates, who have already lost backup center Sarah Schmidt for the season with a broken foot and have seen sophomore post Brittany Taylor limited recently by a back problem, saw sophomore guard Katie Kissee play all of four minutes Wednesday, before retiring with aching arches in both feet.

But with three games left in the regular season, OCC (26-3, 10-1 in conference), ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 3 in Southern California, has won eight straight and is one win away from clinching at least a share of its second straight Orange Empire crown.

The reason behind this increasingly illogical chain of events was, as usual, readily apparent Wednesday against visiting Golden West. That would be sophomore guard Courtney Ford.

Ford, who became the Pirates’ career scoring leader in a first-round win over Golden West on Jan. 18, scored 29 points in 21 minutes to key an 87-53 win over the Rustlers (7-18, 1-9).

Ford was 11 of 14 from the field, including five of five from three-point range, and also made both of her free throws to propel the Pirates.

A follow shot produced her first bucket, then she misfired on her second field-goal try as the hosts managed only an 8-7 advantage nearly four minutes into the contest.

But Ford made her next 10 field-goal tries, including another follow shot and two three-pointers that were a part of a 17-0 run to help the hosts assume command.

The 5-foot-7 Ford, bound for Mercer University, converted four of her five offensive rebounds into baskets. Also flowing comfortably in the up-tempo pace of the game, Ford continually knocked down open looks, while also collecting four assists. Her 10 rebounds led the Pirates and her perfect night from beyond the arc was particularly good news to Thornton.

“I was glad to see that, because she hadn’t been shooting the ball well from three-point range,” Thornton said.

With Ford in overdrive, the rest of the OCC starters virtually disengaged, scoring a combined 21 points, though they combined to make 10 of their 20 field-goal attempts.

Their relative lack of production, however, had more to do with extended playing time given the reserves.

Sophomore Erin Barney and 6-foot-1 freshman Natasha Cargill came off the bench to score 12 and 10 points, respectively. Three of Barney’s field goals were from three-point range and she collected eight boards.

Cargill was five of nine from the field and she chipped in three rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

Freshman reserve Casey Gomez contributed seven points and eight rebounds, while seldom-used Niki Wakamiya and Shawna Shires had five and three points, respectively.

A win Friday at Riverside would give OCC at least a share of the title, which it can win outright with a victory at second-place Saddleback on Wednesday.

Sophomore point guard Rachael Maulit had a game-high seven assists and four steals and Thornton credited her defense for helping limit Golden West standout Heather Habekost to seven points on three-of-14-shooting from the field.

“Kissee did not practice Monday or Tuesday, but she thought she could go tonight, so she started,” Thornton said. “But after four minutes, she was done. We’re getting thinner and thinner and that’s a concern.”

But it has not been, to this point, kept them from the verge of a conference title.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 87, Golden West 53

GWC – Torres 16, Chavez 21, Habekost 7, Roe 6, Franco 0, Jackson 3.

3-pt. goals – Chavez 4, Roe 1, Jackson 1. Fouled out – Vera.

OCC – Ford 29, Ibbotson 8, Taylor 9, Kissee 4, Maulit 0, Barney 12, Cargill 10, Gomez 7, Wakamiya 5, Shires 3.

3-pt. goals – Ford 5, Barney 3, Taylor 1, Kissee 1. Halftime – OCC, 50-21.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].